Seiko Champion

Actually this post should be titled “bucket o’ Yahoo Japan”.

So now that I’ve decided to acquire some more of the Alba Orvitax line, of course now I check my Japamart list for the first time in a long while, and find I’ve missed a number of them in the last few months. Sigh.

Prices seem to be dropping. Two 15501 on stainless were sold recently, the first back in August for 15,000 yen ($175) but the second more recently for only 3122 yes ($40)!




Three 15504 watches were sold in that time. Prices were 10,001 yen ($115) on rubber, 9000 yen ($95) on stainless, and 520 yen ($65) on rubber, respectively.







Now here’s the part that makes me sad. The one I really want, the 15501 in white, sold just a month ago. For 5000 yen – $65. Sure it was on a crappy strap, but that’s easy to fix. But I missed it. Argh! Oh well, maybe it’s fate and I’ll find one in better shape.



Back to eBay, this 1970’s orient King Diver, 23 jewel automatic, not nearly as flashy as many of their watches from that era, and quite nice looking although a bit busy for a diver, went for $114.



Here’s one I did bid on, a Ricoh World Timer, automatic in good shape. I only did a low-ball bid in case I could snap this up as a bargain, lost to a winning amount of $82. Looking back, I should have bid seriously on this one, I’ve not seen a model like this before and quite liked it.



Lessons of today’s story – there are still good deals for Asian-market watches that you rarely see in North America, on Yahoo Japan. And some of the less common (at least over here) Japanese names still can be had at a bargain on eBay.